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IVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

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ONiVERSITY  OF  ILLiNOIS  UBHAnY 
AT  URBA.NA'C,HAMPA!SN 

STACKS 


I 


WKat  E\'ery   Emploj)e 
Ought    to   Kno\iJ  About 

tke 

ILLINOIS  CENTRAL 
SYSTEM 


Compliments  of 

C.  H.  MARKHAM 


8^ 


Or 
Cic 


FOREWORD 


The  greatest  asset  of 
which  the  Illinois  Central 
System  may  boast  is  thou- 
sands of  efficient  and  loyal 
employes ;  to  say  they  are 
highly  appreciated  by  the 
management  is  a  mild  state- 
ment. That  they  may  have 
ready  information  about 
their  employer,  this  pam- 
phlet was  compiled  and 
printed.  It  is  dedicated  to 
their  loyalty  and  efficiency. 

It  is  hoped  that  employes, 
after  familiarizing  them- 
selves with  its  contents,  will 
preserve  the  pamphlet  for 
reference  purposes. 

Chicago,  June  20,  1921. 


? 


15 


*  Bread  Basket  of  the  World" 


Page  Two 


jHE  Illinois  Central  System, 
which  interlaces  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  the  South, 
Tf^\  had  its  beginning  in  1851, 
when  the  Illinois  Central 
_!  Railroad  Company,  the  par- 
ent road,  was  chartered  to  build  a  railway 
through  Central  Illinois.  The  charter 
lines,  completed  during  the  following  five 
years,  consist  of  705^  miles,  all  in  Illinois. 
These  have  been  added  to  by  construction, 
leases  and  purchases  until  the  present 
system,  with  more  than  8,000  miles  of 
lines,  is  nearly  twelve  times  its  original 
size,  represents  3^  per  cent  of  the  total 
railway  mileage  of  the  United  States  and 
serves  fifteen  states  in  the  "bread  basket 
of  the  world." 

The  system  occupies  an  unique  geo- 
graphical location,  stretching  from  the 
Great  Lakes  at  Chicago  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  at  New  Orleans,  and  throwing 
out  great  arms  to  the  upper  Missouri 
River  Valley  at  Omaha,  Sioux  City  and 
Sioux  Falls  and  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
at  Savannah,  with  a  network  of  feeder 
lines  woven  through  this  fertile  region. 

The  Birth  of  a  Railway 

Building  the  charter  lines  was  the  re- 
sult of  daring  imagination,  a  monumen- 
tal engineering  feat  for  its  day.  Previous 
attempts  by  both  state  and  private  enter- 
prise to  build  a  Central  Illinois  railway 
had  failed.  The  then  largest  railway  sys- 
tem in  the  United  States,  the  New  York 
&  Erie,  was  only  300  miles  in  length. 
Virtually  all  traffic  moved  along  east  and 
west  lines,  to  and  from  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, and  the  success  of  a  north  and 
south  railway,  opening  new  trade  routes, 
was  held  by  many  to  be  extremely  doubt- 
ful. 

There  w^ere  no  railway  engineers  of  es- 
tablished reputation  in  the  country.  The 
capital  involved  was  the  largest  amount 
that  had  been  devoted  to  a  single  private 
undertaking  in  the  United  States  at  that 
time.  It  was  necessary  to  import  a  great 
deal  of  the  material  from  England,  ship- 
ping  it   from   the    Atlantic    seaboard   by 


Page  Three 


primitive  railways  and  canals,  by  rivers 
and  wagon  roads. 

Central  Illinois  was  an  almost  un- 
touched prairie  wilderness.  There  were 
few  good  highroads ;  most  of  the  travel 
was  by  former  Indian  trails  and  newly 
made  section  roads,  impassable  for  long 
periods  during  the  winter  storms  and  ■ 
spring  rains,  when  farmhouses  and  often 
entire  towns  were  isolated.  Labor  was 
not  plentiful. 

Agricultural  development  had  been 
slow.  Mines  had  been  opened,  but  were 
limited  in  operation  by  lack  of  adequate 
transportation.  Industrial  activity  was 
confined  almost  entirely  to  the  few  cities. 

The  actual  history  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company*  dates  from 
February  10,  1851,  the  day  on  which  its 
charter  was  approved  by  the  Legislature 
of  Illinois. 

Grant  of  Government  Lands 

Under  the  terms  of  the  charter  the 
company  was  granted  the  title  to 
2,595,133  acres  of  government  lands  in 
Illinois,  which  had  been  ceded  to  the 
state  to  aid  in  the  building  of  a  Lakes- 
to-the-Gulf  railway.  In  return  for  this 
grant,  the  charter  provided  that  the  road 
should  pay  into  the  state  treasury  an- 
nually, in  lieu  of  other  taxes,  a  special 
tax  of  7  per  cent  of  the  gross  earnings 
from  its  charter  lines.  The  Illinois  Cen- 
tral has  realized  $23,218,611  from  the  sale 
of  its  lands,  while  payments  to  the  state 
under  the  charter  tax  have  aggregated, 
with  the  accruals  to  March  31,  1921,  the 
total  of  $48,771,105.95.  In  ceding  the 
lands,  the  federal  government  relin- 
quished alternate  sections  and  the  price 
of  the  lands  retained  was  advanced  from 
$1.25  to  $2.50  an  acre.  These  were  rap- 
idly disposed  of  as  the  building  of  the 
railway  progressed. 

The  charter  was  accepted  and  the 
company  was  organized  at  a  meeting  of 
the  incorporators  in  New  York,  March 
19,  1851.  Three  days  later  they  selected 
Col.  Roswell  B.  Mason  as  engineer  and 
placed    him    in    charge    of    construction. 


Page  Four 


Surveying  began  immediately  and  ground 
was  broken  with  ceremonies  at  Chicago 
and  Cairo  December  23  of  that  year. 

The  road's  securities  were  received 
with  confidence  and  the  first  issue  of 
capital  stock  sold  at  a  premium.  This 
was  due  in  part  to  the  land  grant,  and  also 
to  the  confidence  which  the  early  di- 
rectors held  as  individual  financiers. 

The  building  of  the  charter  lines  was 
pushed  and  sections  were  placed  in  oper- 
ation as  rapidly  as  they  were  completed. 

14-Mile  Strip  Finished  First 

The  first  section  to  be  opened  was  a 
stretch  of  fourteen  miles  between  Chi- 
cago and  Calumet,  which  had  been  built 
with  the  aid  "of  the  Michigan  Central  to 
allow  that  road  to  enter  Chicago,  giving 
the  city  traffic  connections  with  the 
East.  It  was  completed  May  15,  1852. 
Sixty  miles  of  the  road  from  LaSalle  to 
Bloomington  were  opened  May  16,  1853, 
and  this  was  added  to  at  intervals,  until 
the  charter  lines  were  finally  completed, 
September  27,  1856,  by  linking  the  gap  of 
seventy-seven  miles  between  Mattoon 
and  Centralia.  The  total  cost  of  the  char- 
ter lines  was  $26,568,017.61,  or  approxi- 
mately $37,600  a  mile. 

Compared  with  the  present  condition 
of  the  charter  lines,  construction  and 
equipment  were  very  poor.  The  road 
was  built,  however,  according  to  the  best 
standards  of  the  time. 

Freight  and  passenger  service  was  in- 
augurated on  each  stretch  of  road  as  it 
was  completed.  Two  passenger  trains  a 
day  were  operated  over  important  lines. 
The  freight  traffic  was  irregular,  accord- 
ing to  the  demands  of  the  season. 

A  suburban  service  between  Chicago 
and  Hyde  Park  was  established  early  in 
the  history  of  the  railway,  and  later  this 
was  extended  to  Matteson,  Blue  Island 
and  South  Chicago.  It  had  a  great  in- 
fluence in  developing  Chicago's  South 
Side  as  a  residence  section.  Property  lo- 
cated near  the  Illinois  Central  is  con- 
sidered more  valuable  than  that  in  most 
of  the  other  sections  of  the  city  because 
of  the  superior  quality  of  the  suburban 


Page  Five 


service.  The  suburban  service  played  an 
important  role  in  handling  traffic  for  the 
Columbian  Exposition.  Four  hundred 
five  passenger  trains  are  now  operated 
daily  over  the  Chicago  Terminal,  includ- 
ing the  suburban  service. 

The  road  received  a  setback  with  the 
panic  of  1857  and  the  crop  failures  of 
1858,  but  by  1860  these  conditions  had 
been  overcome  and  the  months  imme- 
diately preceding  the  Civil  War  were 
most  prosperous. 

Extracts  from  Appleton's  Railway 
and  Steam  Navigation  Guide  No.  1,  pub- 
lished in  July.  1856,  give  a  panoramic 
view  of  the  early  history  of  the  Illinois 
Central.  The  guide  relates  that  in  1827 
a  railway  four  miles  long  was  constructed 
in  Massachusetts,  probably  the  first  rail- 
way in  the  United  States.  Horse  power 
was  the  only  locomotive  power  employed. 

At  the  time  the  guide  was  published 
the  Illinois  Central,  with  more  than  700 
miles,  was  the  longest  road  in  the  world. 
An  interesting  prophecy,  in  the  light  of 
later  developments,  was  made  by  the 
author  of  the  guide  in  these  words : 

"At  Cairo,  the  Illinois  Central  connects 
with  Southern  lines  to  Mobile  and  New 
Orleans  and  the  Mississippi  steamers. 
When  all  these  lines  are  completed,  it 
will  be  possible  for  a  traveler  to  leave  the 
Lakes  on  Monday  morning  and  take  his 
coffee  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  Wednes- 
day morning ;  and  that  at  an  expense 
which  would  barely  defray  the  cost  of  a 
journey  from  Dublin  to  London,  or  Paris 
to  Berlin." 

The  Illinois  Central's  fast  passenger 
train,  the  Panama  Limited,  now  has  a 
running  time  of  less  than  twenty- 
three  hours  between  Chicago  and  New 
Orleans ! 

Effects  of  the  Civil  War 

The  Illinois  Central  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  movement  of  troops  and 
supplies  during  the  Civil  War.  Under 
the  terms  of  the  charter  the  road  was  re- 
quired to  handle  certain  government 
traffic  at  reduced  rates,  but  business  in 


Page  Six 


the  later  years  of  the  war  became  pros- 
perous and  the  road  was  offered  more 
traffic  than  could  be  moved  readily. 

One  of  the  most  important  effects  of 
the  Civil  War  was  that  business  was  cut 
off  from  Cairo  south,  and  attention  was 
turned  to  the  development  of  feeder  lines 
within  the  state  of  Illinois  and  exten- 
sions westward. 

The  development  of  feeder  lines  and 
the  reaching  out  westward  began  almost 
immediately  following  the  Civil  War. 
Among  the  most  important  of  the  earlier 
acquisitions  were  the  Dubuque  &  Sioux 
City  Railroad  and  the  Cedar  Falls  & 
Minnesota  Railroad,  which  were  leased 
October  1,  1867,  thus  supplying  the  pres- 
ent western  arm  of  the  Illinois  Central 
System  through  Iowa  and  establishing 
direct  communication  with  the  upper 
Missouri  Valley. 

Extensions  south  of  the  Ohio  River 
began  with  the  lease  of  the  Chicago,  St. 
Louis  &  New  Orleans  Railroad  Com- 
pany, which  dates  from  July  1,  1882. 
This  road  was  formed  by  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  New  Orleans,  Jackson  & 
Great  Northern  Railroad  Company,  ex- 
tending from  New  Orleans  to  Canton, 
Miss.,  which  was  built  before  the  Civil 
War,  and  the  Mississippi  Central,  from 
Canton  to  Cairo,  of  which  the  part  from 
Canton  to  Jackson,  Tenn.,  was  built 
prior  to  the  Civil  War.  A  line  to  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  and  a  northern  entrance  into 
Memphis  were  secured  September  15, 
1897,  by  obtaining  control  of  the  Chesa- 
peake, Ohio  &  Southwestern  Railroad 
Company. 

The  actual  completion  of  the  rail  traf- 
fic route  from  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
upper  Mississippi  Valley  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  may  be  said  to  have  taken  place 
with  the  opening  of  the  bridge  over  the 
Ohio  River  at  Cairo,  October  29,  1889, 
although  prior  to  that  time  north  and 
south  traffic  had  been  transferred  at  that 
point  by  ferry. 

The  erection  of  the  bridge  was  of  itself 
a  notable  engineering  accomplishment. 
When  completed  it  was  3|  miles  long,  in- 
cluding trestles.     Fills  have  since  been 


Page  Seven 


made.  The  bridge  proper  is  4,644  feet  in 
length.  Seventy  trains  now  pass  over  it 
daily,  or  an  average  of  one  train  about 
every  twenty  minutes. 

An  Influence  for  Progress 

Throughout  its  history  the  Illinois 
Central  has  employed  the  policy  of  build- 
ing or  leasing  tributary  lines,  centering 
its  attention  upon  building  up  its  imme- 
diate territory,  rather  than  reaching  out 
for  a  footing  in  new  fields.  In  this  way, 
it  has  been  able  to  encourage  systematic 
growth. 

In  the  early  period  of  its  history  the 
Illinois  Central  contributed  more  than  all 
other  factors  to  building  up  the  state  of 
Illinois.  Settlement  of  the  inland  coun- 
ties progressed  rapidly,  agricultural 
methods  were  improved,  industries  were 
located  and  the  commercial  life  of  the 
state  expanded.  The  Illinois  Central  en- 
dorsed the  movement  to  establish  the 
University  of  Illinois  at  Champaign  and 
contributed  the  first  $50,000  toward  the 
university  fund.  The  University  of  Illi- 
nois now  enrolls  more  than  11,000  stu- 
dents and  is  conceded  to  have  one  of  the 
greatest  agricultural  colleges  in  the 
United  States. 

The  road  also  had  a  large  influence  in 
developing  Chicago  as  a  metropolis. 
Entrance  to  the  city  was  gained  over  the 
lake  front  under  terms  whereby  the  rail- 
way took  over  the  then  extensive  burden 
of  protecting  the  city  from  the  encroach- 
ments of  Lake  Michigan.  The  lines  were 
extended  north  to  the  Chicago  River  and 
in  1853  the  erection  of  the  Randolph 
Street  passenger  station,  then  the  most 
expensive  passenger  station  in  the  coun- 
try, began.  Building  the  lines  into  the 
heart  of  the  city  encouraged  Chicago's 
industrial  and  commercial  growth,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  lake  front  pro- 
vided the  Illinois  Central  with  the  site 
for  the  finest  railway  terminals  in  the 
country. 

The  Field  Museum 

A  notable  contribution  to  the  city  of 


Page  Eight 


Chicago  has  been  made  in  recent  years. 
For  more  than  fifty  years  following  the 
railway's  entrance  to  the  city,  disputes 
arose  over  the  lake  front.  A  clause  in 
the  will  of  the  late  Marshall  Field  pro- 
vided for  the  building  of  the  Field  Colum- 
bian Museum,  if  the  city  would  furnish 
w^ithin  a  certain  time  a  site  accessible  to 
the  down-town  section.  A  site  was  not 
found  and  the  gift  was  about  to  be  lost  to 
the  city  when  the  Illinois  Central  brought 
forth  a  plan  whereby  the  museum  might 
be  located  upon  the  lake  front,  the  rail- 
way granting  the  site,  on  condition  that 
the  controversies  over  riparian  rights  be 
adjusted  on  a  fair  basis.  The  city  ac- 
cepted, after  lengthy  debating,  demand- 
ing, however,  electrification  of  the 
Illinois   Central  terminals. 

The  museum  was  built  as  part  of  the 
general  plan  for  development  of  the  lake 
front.  The  new  Illinois  Central  passen- 
ger station,  now  under  contemplation, 
which  will  be  part  of  that  general  plan, 
will  be  among  the  largest  passenger  sta- 
tions in  the  world.  When  it  lifts  its  dome 
above  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  and 
the  electric  trains  glide  along  the  shore, 
threading  the  parks  and  lagoons  and  the 
business  and  residence  districts  of  the 
South  Side,  they  will  be  a  monument  to 
the  Illinois  Central.  The  marble  palace 
of  the  museum  also  will  be  a  monument 
to  the  Illinois  Central;  but  for  the  rail- 
way's timely  offer,  the  gift  might  have 
been  lost  to  the  city. 

Developing  the  South 

Just  as  the  Illinois  Central  played  a 
prominent  part  in  building  up  the  state 
of  Illinois  in  the  two  decades  of  1850  to 
1870,  its  influence  in  later  years  has  been 
extended  to  building  up  the  South.  Mod- 
em farm  methods — dairying,  crop  rota- 
tion, the  use  of  fertilizers,  fruit  and  truck 
farming — have  been  encouraged.  The 
South  is  now  coming  rapidly  to  the  front 
in  agriculture. 

Truck  farming  began  on  a  small  scale 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Illinois  Central 
in  1875  at  Crystal  Springs,  Mississippi. 


Page  Nine 


Shipments  were  handled  by  express. 
Later  ventilated  fruit  cars  were  used,  then 
refrigerator  cars.  The  industry  has 
spread  and  more  than  4,000  carloads  of 
vegetables  were  transported  from  the 
South  over  the  Illinois  Central  lines  dur- 
ing 1920.  Sweet  potato  dry  kilns  have 
been  located  on  the  Southern  lines  of  the 
Illinois  Central  during  the  last  few  years, 
and  that  industry  is  now  most  promising. 

The  strawberry  industry  started  in  a 
back-yard  garden  at  Independence,  Lou- 
isiana, twenty-seven  years  ago,  and  has 
spread  to  a  large  territory.  More  than 
1,800  carloads  of  berries  were  transported 
over  the  Illinois  Central  in  the  1921 
season. 

Similar  co-operative  measures  have 
stimulated  dairying,  the  raising  of  beef 
cattle  and  pure-bred  hogs. 

The  development  of  the  Illinois  Central 
in  the  South  has  played  an  important 
part  in  building  up  the  port  of  New 
Orleans,  the  second  port  in  the  United 
States  in  the  amount  of  exports  and  im- 
ports handled,  surpassed  only  by  New 
York.  New  Orleans  is  the  natural  gate- 
way from  the  Mississippi  Valley  to  Cen- 
tral and  South  America,  and  the  Illinois 
Central  leads  all  other  railway  systems  in 
the  amount  of  traffic  handled  through 
that  gateway. 

The  total  capacity  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral yards  at  New  Orleans  is  9,384  cars, 
the  most  outstanding  of  the  yards  being 
Stuyvesant  Docks,  with  a  capacity  of 
2,316  cars,  and  Harahan  Yard,  with  a 
capacity  of  4,090  cars.  Harahan  Yard  is 
used  for  classification  of  in-  and  out- 
bound freight  at  New  Orleans. 

Stuyvesant  Docks  comprise  a  wharf 
4,700  feet  long  with  an  area  of  650,000 
square  feet;  damp-,  rat-  and  fire-proof 
warehouses  with  an  area  of  520,000 
square  feet ;  grain  elevators  with  a  capac- 
ity for  storing  2,500,000  bushels,  and  the 
2,316-car  capacity  yard.  Other  IlUnois 
Central  yards,  with  their  capacities,  in- 
clude: Poydras  Yard,  1,070  cars;  Gov- 
ernment Yard,  762  cars;  Levee  Yard,  587 
cars;  Southport  Yard.  306  cars,  and  Chal- 
mette  Yard,  253  cars. 


Page  Ten 


Figures  of  Early  History 

The  names  of  the  men  who  were  con- 
nected with  the  early  history  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  have  become  illustrious. 
They  were  among  the  leading  figures  of 
their  day.  Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  succes- 
sor to  Daniel  Webster  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  was  largely  influential,  as 
a  director,  in  shaping  the  early  financial 
policies  of  the  road.  Robert  Schuyler,  the 
first  president,  was  possibly  the  leading 
railway  executive  of  the  period. 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  Judge  Sidney 
Breese,  United  States  Senators  from  Illi- 
nois, were  early  sponsors  of  the  road  and 
were  instrumental  in  securing  the  grant 
of  government  lands.  Gouverneur  Morris 
and  William  H.  Osborn  were  among  the 
early  directors,  the  former  being  one  of 
the  incorporators. 

Col.  Roswell  B.  Mason,  builder  of  the 
charter  lines,  who  later  served  as  mayor 
of  Chicago,  was  the  first  superintendent 
of  transportation.  He  was  succeeded 
by  George  B.  McClellan,  afterward 
commander-in-chief  of  the  federal  arm.ies 
in  the  Civil  War. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  during  the  early 
days  of  his  law  practice,  was  a  local  at- 
torney of  the  Illinois  Central.  Among 
the  other  prominent  figures  of  Civil  War 
days  who  were  associated  with  the  Illinois 
Central  System  were :  Gen.  P.  G.  T.  Beau- 
regard (Confederate),  Maj.-Gen.  A.  E. 
Burnside,  Maj.-Gen.  Nathaniel  P.  Banks, 
Maj.-Gen.  Edward  C.  Walthall  (Confed- 
erate), Maj.-Gen.  E.  P.  Alexander  (Con- 
federate), Brig.-Gen.  Thomas  E.  G.  Ran- 
som, Brig.-Gen.  Mason  Brayman,  Brig.- 
Gen.  John  Basil  Turchin,  Brig.-Gen. 
H.  L.  Robinson,  Brig.-Gen.  Rufus  Polk 
Neely  (Confederate),  Brig.-Gen.  Alex- 
ander R.  Lawton  (Confederate),  Brig.- 
Gen.  G.  M.  Sorrell  (Confederate),  Col. 
John  B.  Wyman,  Col.  David  Stuart,  Col. 
James  T.  Tucker,  Lieut.-Col.  L.  Q.  C. 
Lamar  (Confederate),  Maj.  Joseph  Kirk- 
land  and  Maj.  Ben  H.  Green  (Confed- 
erate). 


Page  Eleven 


Page  Twelve 


Page  Thirteen 


The   Twentieth  Century 

The  beginning  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury ushered  in  a  period  of  railway  his- 
tory which  may  be  designated  the  "anti- 
railway  era."  The  scope  of  public 
regulation  had  developed  in  alarming 
proportions  and  the  roads  were  strangled 
through  oppressive  legislation  and  the 
refusal  of  adequate  rates.  The  Illinois 
Central,  in  common  with  the  other  rail- 
ways, suffered. 

Shortly  after  the  United  States  entered 
the  World  War  the  railways  were  taken 
over  by  the  government  and  during  the 
twenty-six  months  of  federal  control, 
when  the  business  of  winning  the  war 
was  the  paramount  task  of  the  railways, 
the  Illinois  Central  organization  met  its 
responsibilities  nobly. 

The  railways  were  returned  to  their 
owners  March  1,  1920,  under  the  Trans- 
portation Act,  which  seeks  to  alleviate 
the  oppressive  burdens  of  recent  years 
and   to  restore  rational  development. 

Yazoo  &  Mississippi  Valley 

The  Yazoo  &  Mississippi  Valley  Rail- 
road Company,  threading  the  delta  coun- 
try between  Memphis  and  New  Orleans, 
became  a  part  of  the  Illinois  Central  Sys- 
tem in  1892,  with  the  purchase  of  its  capi- 
tal stock.  It  is  now  operated  jointly  with 
the  parent  road. 

The  road  was  formed  by  a  combina- 
tion made  effective  October  24,  1892,  be- 
tween a  company  of  the  same  name 
which  had  been  created  February  17, 
1882,  and  the  Louisville,  New  Orleans  & 
Texas  Railway  Company,  which  latter 
company  itself  grew  out  of  a  consolida- 
tion made  August  12,  1884. 

The  Central  of  Georgia 

The  Central  of  Georgia  Railway  Com- 
pany, which  represents  nearly  one-fourth 
of  the  present  Illinois  Central  System,  is 


Pajre  Fourteen 


owned  by  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
Company,  but  is  operated  independently. 
It  has  an  interesting  history,  antedating 
that  of  the  Illinois  Central  itself. 

The  Central  of  Georgia  was  incorpo- 
rated December  20,  1833,  as  the  Central 
Railroad  &  Canal  Company  of  Georgia, 
and  was  completed  between  Savannah 
and  Macon — a  distance  of  191  miles — 
October  13,  1843.  Trains  had  been  oper- 
ated as  early  as  August,  1839,  between 
Savannah  and  a  point  seventy-six  miles 
west.  In  1835  the  corporate  name  was 
changed  to  the  Central  Railroad  &  Bank- 
ing Company  of  Georgia,  and  October  17, 
1895,  to  the  Central  of  Georgia  Railway 
Company.  The  Macon  &  Western  Rail- 
road Company  between  Macon  and  At- 
lanta, 103  miles,  was  leased  May  25,  1871, 
and  on  August  24,  1872,  it  was  consoli- 
dated with  the  Central  of  Georgia  Rail- 
way Company,  the  capital  stock  of  which 
was  acquired  by  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road Company  in  June,  1909. 

The  Central  of  Georgia  continued  its 
policy  of  acquiring  tributary  lines  and 
making  new  additions,  until  now  it  ex- 
tends westward  through  Georgia  and 
Alabama  to  Augusta,  Macon,  Columbus, 
and  Atlanta,  Georgia,  Chattanooga,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Montgomery,  Andalusia, 
Lockhart  and  Birmingham,  Alabama, 
forming  a  connection  at  the  latter  city 
with  the  Illinois  Central. 

Its  modern  terminal  facilities  at  Savan- 
nah comprise  a  river  frontage  of  one  mile. 
It  has  four  slips  with  a  docking  space  of 
nearly  12,000  lineal  feet,  warehouses  with 
a  storage  space  of  1,358,815  square  feet, 
and  open  sheds  of  1,012,138  square  feet. 

Ocean  Steamship  Company 

The  most  important  subsidiary  holding 
of  the  Central  of  Georgia  Railway  Com- 
pany is  the  Ocean  Steamship  Company  of 
Savannah,  which  plies  a  coastwise  traffic 
between  Savannah,  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton. 

The  steamship  company  was  organ- 
ized in  1872,  when  six  steamships  with  a 


P^ge  Fifteen 


total  gross  tonnage  of  6,563  were  acquired 
at  a  cost  of  $600,000.  There  are  now  eight 
steamers  in  service  with  a  gross  tonnage 
of  36,568,  in  addition  to  two  tugs  and 
twenty-seven  lighters.  Extensive  ter- 
minals are  owned  or  controlled  at  Hobo- 
ken,  New  York,  Boston  and  Savannah. 
In  addition  to  their  freight  traffic,  the 
steamers  have  a  passenger  carrying 
capacity  of  1,267  persons. 

Two  of  the  steamers,  the  City  of  Sa- 
vannah and  the  City  of  Atlanta,  were 
employed  in  the  United  States  Army 
Transport  Service  during  the  World 
War.  Prior  to  that  they  and  others  were 
engaged  in  overseas  trade.  The  City  of 
Memphis  was  torpedoed  by  a  German 
submarine  March  17,  1917,  while  return- 
ing from  France. 

The  steamers  now  in  service  are  the 
City  of  St.  Louis,  City  of  Montgomery, 
City  of  Savannah,  City  of  Atlanta,  City 
of  Columbus,  City  of  Rome,  City  of  Au- 
gusta, and  the  Nacoochee.  The  general 
ofBces  are  at  Pier  35,  North  River,  New 
York. 


How  the  System  Has  Grown 

In  1857  the  gross  revenue  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  System  as  then  constituted 
was  $2,300,000.  In  1920  it  was  $202,- 
844,270.58. 

The  freight  traffic  carried  in  1857  was 
the  equivalent  of  50,000,000  tons  trans- 
ported one  mile.  In  1920  the  net  ton 
miles  of  revenue  freight  amounted  to 
17,061,044,291. 

The  revenue  freight  handled  on  the 
system  in  1920  aggregated  68,362,036 
tons.  These  were  among  the  principal 
commodities : 

Tons  Revenue 

Coal 25,595,659  $31,794,643 

Lumber    and    other 

forest    products..    9,933,343  18,214,248 

Grain 4,423,116  9,586,628 

Petroleum  and 

products 2,088,237  4,857,119 


Page   Sixteen 


Tons  Revenue 
Flour     and     other 

mill  products   .  .  .  1,331,067  $2,997,162 

Cement 908,095  1,236,733 

Cotton     seed     and 

products 852,479  1,787,181 

Cotton 671,802  3,382,136 

Road  Has  14,225  Owners 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, which  owns  the  subsidiary  cor- 
porations of  the  system,  is,  in  turn, 
owned  by  14,225  shareholders.  Eight 
shareholders  own  5,000  shares  or  more 
each;  87,  between  1,000  and  5,000  shares 
each;  115,  between  500  and  1,000  shares 
each;  1,699,  between  100  and  500 
shares  each,  and  12,316,  between  1  and 
99  shares  each.  The  average  holding  is 
77  shares. 

The  number  of  shareholders  has  in-* 
creased  4,190  since  1916.  There  also  has 
been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  shares 
held  in  the  United  States.  In  October, 
1910,  there  were  183,418  shares  held 
abroad;  in  April,  1921,  the  number  had 
been  reduced  to  45,070. 

The  Illinois  Central  was  the  first  road 
in  the  country — in  fact,  one  of  the  first 
corporations — to  sell  stock  to  employes. 
The  plan  has  been  in  operation  since 
1893,  and  many  of  the  company's  shares 
are  held  by  officers  and  employes  and 
members  of  their  families.  Every  em- 
ploye has  the  privilege  of  subscribing  for 
stock  and  paying  for  it  by  deductions 
from  pay  or  by  direct  payments.  Em- 
ployes buying  stock  share  in  all  the  priv- 
ileges of  stockholders  and  during  the 
time  their  payments  are  being  made  they 
receive  interest  on  their  deposits. 

Long  Dividend  Record 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany stands  second  among  all  the  rail- 
ways of  the  United  States  in  the  number 
of  years  it  has  paid  cash  dividends  with- 
out interruption,  its  record  standing  un-- 


Page  Seventeen 


broken  since  1860.  The  only  railway  to 
excel  that  record  is  the  Pennsylvania, 
which  has  paid  cash  dividends  without  in- 
terruption since  1856. 

Capitalization 

The  total  capitalization  of  the  Illinois 
Central  System,  with  its  owned  and  affil- 
iated lines,  including  capital  stock  and 
funded  debt  in  hands  of  the  public,  is 
$428,756,795,  according  to  the  figures  of 
January  1,  1921.  On  that  same  date  its 
total  investment  in  road  and  equipment 
amounted  to  $534,340,789,  or  a  total  of 
$105,583,994  in  excess  of  its  total  capital- 
ization. 

Millions  in  Pensions 

The  pension  department  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central  and  the  Yazoo  &  Missis- 
sippi Valley  railroads  was  inaugurated 
July  1,  1901.  Since  then,  and  including 
December  31,  1920,  a  total  of  1,295  em- 
ployes have  been  retired  on  pensions,  of 
whom  611  were  carried  on  the  pension 
rolls  at  the  latter  date.  A  total  of 
$2,106,035.82  had  been  paid  out  in  pen- 
sions up  to  December  31,  1920. 

Markham  Yard 

A  large  freight  classification  yard,  one 
of  the  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in  the 
world,  is  now  under  construction  by  the 
Illinois  Central  immediately  south  of  Chi- 
cago. When  completed,  the  total  cost 
will  be  $8,000,000.  Through  it  will  pass 
all  freight  handled  by  the  Illinois  Central 
between  Chicago  and  the  South.  It  will 
have  106  miles  of  track  with  a  capacity 
of  13,820  cars,  and  will  be  especially  no- 
table because  of  a  single  classification 
yard  with  62  tracks  of  a  capacity  of  2,960 
cars  served  from  a  single  hump.  The 
yard  is  made  necessary  by  the  increase 
in  freight  business  handled  in  and  out  of 
Chicago. 

The  yard  is  located  between  Harvey 
and  Homewood,  twenty-one  miles  south 


Page  Eighteen 


of  the  South  Water  Street  terminal 
of  the  IlHnois  Central.  The  northbound 
yard  will  consist  of  a  receiving  yard  of  20 
tracks,  having  a  total  capacity  of  2,390 
cars;  a  classification  yard  of  62  tracks, 
with  a  capacity  of  2,960  cars,  and  a  de- 
parture yard  of  20  tracks,  with  space  for 
1,950  cars.  The  southbound  yard  will 
have  a  receiving  yard  of  20  tracks,  with 
a  capacity  of  1,950  cars;  a  classification 
yard  of  40  tracks,  with  space  for  2,050 
cars,  and  a  departure  yard  of  20  tracks, 
with  a  capacity  of  2,070  cars. 

A  less-than-carload  transfer  station 
consisting  of  five  platforms  700  feet  long, 
with  tracks  on  either  side,  and  a  support- 
ing yard,  immediately  to  the  south,  of 
equivalent  track  capacity,  will  be  built 
parallel  to  the  southbound  departure 
yard. 

A  repair  yard  of  21  tracks,  holding  660 
cars,  is  to  be  provided  between  the  two 
yards.  Two  roundhouses,  a  coaling  sta- 
tion and  other  facilities  for  the  engine 
terminals,  are  included  in  the  plans.  The 
placing  of  about  5,000,000  cubic  yards  of 
filling  is  involved.  There  will  be  street 
subways,  and  the  terminal  will  have  in- 
terlocking plants,  electric  lighting,  pneu- 
matic tube  systems  for  the  dispatching  of 
waybills,  automatic  scales  at  the  hump, 
and  other  modern  facilities. 

Other  Large  Terminals 

Markham  Yard  will  be  the  ranking  ter- 
minal of  the  entire  Illinois  Central  Sys- 
tem. Other  important  terminals  of  the 
system,  of  more  than  1,000-car  capacity 
each,  include : 


Location 

New    Orleans,    La 

Chicago,  111 

Centralia,  111 

Savannah,  Ga.    .  .  . 
Memphis,   Tenn.    , 

Macon,  Ga 

Mounds,  111 

Champaign,  111.   . 


Capacity — Cars 

9,384 
8,871 
6,084 
6,000 
5,872 
5,320 
3,062 
2,950 


Page  Nineteen 


Location  Capacity — Cars 

East  St.   Louis,   111 2,620 

Clinton,  111 2,545* 

Atlanta,   Ga 1,824 

McComb,  Miss 1,821 

Columbus,  Ga 1,500 

Gwin,    Miss 1,450 

Vicksburg,  Miss 1,310 

Albany,    Ga 1,200 

Jackson,    Tenn 1,190 

Freeport,    111 1,150 

Louisville,  Ky 1,136 

Clarksdale,    Miss 1,130 

Rank  of  the  System 

The  mileage  of  the  Illinois  Central 
System  is  8,157  4y  5  miles,  or  3|  per  cent 
of  the  total  of  all  Class  I  railways,  which 
have  a  total  mileage  of  233,568  4/5  miles. 

The  Class  I  railways  own  2,342,752 
freight  cars,  of  which  78,819,  or  3  2/5  per 
cent,  are  owned  by  the  Illinois  Central 
System. 

There  are  65,560  locomotives  owned  by 
the  Class  I  railways,  while  the  Illinois 
Central  System  owns  2,177,  or  3  3/10 
per  cent  of  the  total. 

Five  hundred  ninety-six  passenger 
trains  are  operated  daily  over  the  Illinois 
Central  System,  or  5  7/10  per  cent  of  the 
10,347  operated  daily  by  the  Class  I  roads. 

Of  the  passenger  trains  operated  on  the 
Illinois  Central  in  1920,  96  per  cent  ar- 
rived on  time  at  their  final  destinations, 
whereas  the  percentage  for  the  railways 
as  a  w^hole  was  about  83. 

The  system  owns  2,025  passenger 
service  cars,  of  which  611,  or  30  1/5  per 
cent,  are  of  steel  construction  through- 
out, and  409,  or  20  1  5  per  cent,  are  of 
steel  underframe  construction.  The 
Class  I  railways  own  53,393  passenger 
service  cars,  of  which  15,646,  or  29  3/10 
per  cent,  are  of  steel  construction,  and 
6,459,  or  12  1  10  per  cent,  of  steel  under- 
frame  construction. 

The  average  number  of  employes  of 
the    Class    I    railways   during    1920   was 

*A  new  yard  is  under  construction  at  Clinton. 
The  figures   represent   the  completed  yard. 


Page  Twenty 


2,153,158,  of  whom  72,137,  or  3  2/5  per 
cent,  were  employed  on  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral System. 

The  revenue  freight  transported  one 
mile  by  all  Class  I  railways  amounted  to 
409,970,656,000  tons  in  1920,  of  which 
17,061,044,291  tons— or  4  1/5  per  cent — 
were  transported  on  the  Illinois  Central 
System. 

The  number  of  passengers  carried  one 
mile  by  the  Class  I  railways  in  1920  was 
46,724,880,000,  of  which  the  lUinois  Cen- 
tral System  carried  1,418,986,281,  or  3 
per  cent. 

The  Illinois  division  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  Company  was  awarded 
the  E.  H.  Harriman  Memorial  Medal  in 
1917  for  the  utmost  progress  in  safety 
and  accident  prevention  during  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  1916.  The  contest, 
in  which  all  divisions  of  the  steam  roads 
of  the  United  States  competed,  was  con- 
ducted under  the  direction  of  the  Amer- 
ican Museum  of  Safety. 

Our  Coal  Traffic 

All  the  railways  of  the  country,  in- 
cluding the  smaller  lines,  handled  556,- 
516,000  tons  of  bituminous  coal  in  1920, 
exceeding  by  21^  per  cent,  or  98,453,000 
tons,  the  amount  handled  in  1919.  Dur- 
ing 1920,  the  Illinois  Central  System 
handled  25,595,659  tons  of  coal,  a  gain  of 
49^  per  cent  over  the  17,121,511  tons 
handled  on  its  lines  in  the  previous  year. 

The  Illinois  Central  System,  exclusive 
of  the  Central  of  Georgia,  stands  sixth 
among  all  roads  of  the  United  States  in 
coal  traffic  originated.  Illinois  ranks 
second  among  the  states  in  the  produc- 
tion of  bituminous  coal.  The  Illinois 
Central  is  first  in  Illinois,  leading  all  other 
roads  in  the  point  of  coal  tonnage  orig- 
inated. 


Page  Twenty-one 


Notes  of  Interest 

The  cost  of  all  coal  consumed  on  the 
Illinois  Central  System  in  1914  was 
$6,330,092.29.  In  1920,  coal  costs  mounted 
to  $20,696,510.78,  an  increase  of  226  9/10 
per  cent. 


The  average  tractive  force  in  pounds 
per  engine  in  the  Illinois  Central  through 
freight  service  in  1921  is  50,089,  com- 
pared with  31,600  in  1910,  an  increase  of 
58^  per  cent. 


A  freight  engine  travels  an  average  of 
80  miles  per  day,  and  the  speed  of  a 
freight  train  averages  11  miles  per  hour, 
including  delays. 


A  freight  engine  consumes  257  pounds 
of  coal  per  mile,  and  the  fuel  costs  on  a 
freight  train  at  present  prices  are  about 
equal  to  the  wages  of  the  train  and  en- 
gine crews  combined. 


The  average  freight  train  carries  a 
net  weight  (excluding  weight  of  cars)  of 
659  tons,  compared  with  359  tons  in  1910, 
an  increase  of  83  per  cent. 


The  average  capacity  of  freight  cars 
now  in  the  Illinois  Central  service  is 
42  1/5  tons,  compared  with  38  tons  in 
1910,    an   increase    of    11    1/10   per   cent. 


The  average  tons  of  freight  loaded  in 
each  freight  car  in  1920  were  30  7/10, 
compared  with  22  tons  in  1910,  an  in- 
crease of  392  per  cent. 


The  average  freight  car  makes  a  round 
trip  (dispatched  loaded  and  returned 
empty)  every  ten  days,  or  approximately 
thirty-six  loaded  trips  a  year. 


Page  Twenty-two 


A  passenger  engine  consumes  110 
pounds  of  coal  per  mile  and  averages 
about  35  miles  an  hour,  including  delays. 


One  and  one-half  tons  of  gross  passen- 
ger car  weight  are  hauled  to  carry  each 
coach  passenger ;  4  2/5  tons,  to  carry  each 
sleeping-car  passenger. 


The  Illinois  Central  stands  fourth 
among  American  railroads  in  net  ton 
miles  of  freight  hauled. 


The  Illinois  Central  stands  second 
among  American  railroads  in  the  aver- 
age miles  per  car  per  day. 


More  than  five  billion  passengers  have 
been  carried  one  mile  on  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral System  since  a  passenger  riding  in 
a  proper  position  was  injured  fatally. 


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Page  Twenty-three 


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